Ratchet
by Dark Sadistic Angel
Summary: Taking place in an AU Gundam Wing timeline. After the war, Heero Yuy is charged with seeing the Gundam pilots do not disrupt the fragile peace. He goes undercover as a rookie to the other senior four Preventer agents.
1. Chapter 1

Important Author's Note:  
Rachet is a semi-frozen WIP due to lack of interest.  
While C&C is appreciated, please do not ask for or expect more chapters.  
Some might be posted, but I just do not want the burden of expectation with this WIP. As I learnt with Parasite and Ping Pong Bell, I doubt people would consistantly follow updates anyway and it makes writing for readers unsatisfactory. I do appreciate those who do follow Parasite and give feedback- I know I have less than 10 on-and-off readers with that (hugs)- but with Rachet- and also Bitter Betrayal- I aim to write for myself and only finish if I get curious about the ending and the character interplay. (With Parasite- I already know the majority of the storyline... just have not put it to text. Sweatdrop. The next chapter of Parasite will be written about Heero and Duo... we are going back to the Academy.... oh and Trowa and Quatre may be in there, but we all know 3+4 generally gets dumped in favour of 1+2.)

Other Notes: Taking place in an alternative world of Gundam Wing- where only four Gundam pilots gathered together as a force to fight Oz- the lone other Gundam pilot had continued on his missions in solo.  
Now the war had ended, the lone pilot, Heero Yuy, is charged with seeing none of the other Gundam pilots disrupt the fragile peace.  
So Heero Yuy goes undercover at the Preventers to serve as an assigned rookie Preventer to other well-known group of four senior Preventer agents.

1x2, AU, Disclaimers Apply.

Perhaps what had startled him out of his brooding thoughts had been due to something as simple as human warmth. A brief flare of temperature in the cold night air as two bodies past, their mutual body heat signatures mingling just for a moment to create a warmth more intense than that which could be created by one lone person on his own. Whatever it was, that little something caused Heero fs senses to sharpen and be aware of the stranger passing, allowing his nose to pick up the barely scent of a soapy fragrance and hair that must have been washed bare minutes before. As his head for some reason, turned automatically to trace the passing blurred shadow. As his eyes placed the moving figure into a focused frame, Heero became aware he had slowed and stopped in his footsteps.  
He was looking at the back of a graceful, longhair girl... no, teenage boy. Despite the stunning long hair that trailed out in the snapping cold breeze from the rapidly moving figure, no female could have such broad masculine shoulders which taped down to an angular waist. That shape was reserved for the male homo sapiens.. The figure continued on... blithely unaware of his body fs appraisal.  
When the boy turned his head, his side profile was shown to Heero and Heero noted the boy to be very ordinary of face, and not at all pretty- which from the loose braid he wore had suggested he should have been. But he was not at all ugly. The flush of his haste was vivid on his cheeks, and his eyes, looking forward before him, sparkled with a life that was noticeable even from where Heero stood in his still bemused state.  
The boy was moving ahead, turning the corner... his movement were rapid, but in perfect control as he neatly changed his path fully, his body turning with his head fs direction. And not once did he looked back at the path he had streamed through previously as he made his way towards wherever he had been going, and without the consent of his watcher, disappeared from sight.  
Perhaps it was then that Heero realised what envy was. No doubt the boy had somewhere to go. Somewhere he belonged. A strange urge to follow the stranger welled up, startling him. It was a ridiculous feeling. For even if he followed the carefree boy, he would not find his own place. He had no place but a mission. His steps forward would only take him back. Always back again to the loneliness of a solo mission.  
Heero had no idea of the wistfulness written on his face when he looked at the empty spot where the boy had been. Nor was he aware of a sudden hardening of his expression when he turned away and continued on with his path. All his expressional movement were miniature, and so Heero never noticed the shifting of his facial muscles at his emotions. Since the mirror, whenever he glanced at it, reflected nothing but a blank mask all the time, he was under the illusion that he had an unreadable expression- which he had strived for as a survival instinct long ago. But Heero never made a study of or looked too deeply into his own eyes. He never knew how his deep Prussian blue eyes always reflected the depth of his permanent loneliness.

TBC. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimers apply, 1x2.  
By DSA

Out of the five Gundams that had staggered the long war mankind waged by first brute force, then ended it by unifying both sides with almost forgotten ideal of peace, only one of the Gundams did not make an appearance at the scene when flames of war, for a very brief time, flared into light from the still smouldering coals. The very last battle had been a tense situation, as between the four Gundams pilots which had became a team during the long war split and fought internally. But the fight had been startling brief. Apparently whatever Gundam that had detached from the remaining three and fought the rebel Gundam had spoken several harsh words that had made the other pilot reconsider his actions. And also the leader of the insurgent party. Official information had played down the event- or rather- whitewashed the incident with false data. The real data had not even made its way out of the black files of the Preventer agency, and was supplied only on a need-to-know basis. Outside of the parties involved, the battle had never occurred for the rest of the world. The four Gundam pilots were discretely drawn back into the role of peace enforcers again, along with their ex-rebel member.  
Which was why he was joining the Preventers. To check on the mentality and loyalty of the Gundam pilots turned elite Preventer agents which small force was now largely responsible for keeping the peace. Perhaps if he did had any relationship with the other pilots, the mission he was about to take on would not be necessary, and he could report to his superiors whether all was well. As it stood though, he had been under Doctor J fs orders to stand alone even as the other pilots had found each other and grouped together. The head scientist whom led the group of scientists which created the Gundam war machines had foreseen the incident. In his last message to Heero, before J and the other four scientist went into deep undercover in the guise of death, he ordered Heero to find out whether the other Gundam pilots were truly reliable. If they were not, he was to find the places where they stored their Gundams, destroy the weapons, and assassinate each and every one of the pilots.  
In the war, his Gundam had been 01. The other four machines had been respectively coded 02, 03, 04, and 05. The names of the other pilots were made known to him via a list. 02 had been Duo Maxwell, 03 Trowa Barton, 04 Quatre Raberba Winner, 05 Wufei Chang. Later on, through monitoring their channels of communications, their voices too, became as familiar as his own. If not more so, as the method of secretly monitoring the highly coded frequency required utmost silence on his own behalf because he leave his output channels open as well, although monitoring screens were thankfully not required. Like old space radio, throughout all the wall, voices crackled through his cockpit, providing a constant touch of humanity within his cell.  
He had kept silent when the Gundams first met and fought among themselves. He had kept silent when they made hesitant overtures of friendship with each other and finally became comrades. He had also kept silent when the Gundams launched their final attack against the enemy, and won. He could remember the screaming of 02 fs pilot as his Gundam made a desperate attempt to slice apart the huge man-made meteorite that the enemy had flung down to Earth in a last desperate and dirty tactic to annulated life on the planet. He also could remember the shocked rude epithet from the same pilot fs lips as he finally made his appearance to the Gundams, and flung down the custom buster rifle to 02 that J had specially made. It was then he broke radio silence, and spoke, for the first time in the entire year, to 02. Rusty from disuse, his voice had been harsher, and rougher then user. He had kept his words short in order to keep his voice from breaking.  
eShot the thing with this, f he had said. He had thought it a simple enough and very understandable order, but the 02 pilot had displayed limited understanding of his request.  
eWhat the- no, who the hell are you? And what the fuck fs this you fre giving me? f eIt fs a buster rifle. Use it on the meteorite. It won ft break up that easily even with the blast, so I fll work on destroying it from the inside. f eHey! But who are you? Some white knight in shining armour? e eShut up Maxwell, and just shoot! We don ft have much time for introductions, or for that matter, goodbyes. f He had blasted a hole in the mental man-made object, and entered into the black depths.  
Just before his radio went out due to the meteorite fs natural interference, he heard the other pilot fs last words to him.  
eWell fuck me, you should be Japanese, . Good luck and goodbye! And thanks! f The cheery, sudden acceptance of him despite the fact Heero did know he appeared up suddenly had made him for a brief instant, feel very warm, and for once, he felt almost part of a team.  
When the meteorite blew up around him, it was pilot 02 voice that kept him company until darkness fell.  
When he woke up, he had been retrieved by Dorothy, and brought not to the location where the other pilots had gathered, along with the all important peace advocate Relena Peacecraft who had drawn the war to a complete closure with her leadership and ideals, but he was brought to the drifting shuttle containing the five Gundam inventers. His throat had been scratched raw from his shouting as once within the belly of the meteorite, Heero had given free reign to his voice as he destroyed the internal structure of the meteorite. After a long time not using speech, he had seriously abused his vocal cords and hence during his infirmity stay, could not speak. It was probably due to this that all his conversation now truly consisted of grunts and hnns, Dorothy had told him once before. Ex-everything that had been on the opposite side to his side during the war, the young blond girl had ended up his unexpected alley at the end of it. Dorothy had been a sole operator too. But unlike him who took commands from above, Dorothy had formulated her own plans and implemented them. It was fortunate that they ended up on the same side, he knew, for Dorothy if inclined, could have been a formidable enemy. As it was, she had kept him company throughout his recovery in the infirmary. And it was then Heero discovered that Dorothy, despite her sarcastic and acid tongue, was actually a kind person. She had been able to forgive him for running her through with a fencing blade, when he had neutralised the automated humanless army she had controlled from her moonbase location. Indeed, she had said, that action had made her admire him and caused followed him to the meteorite despite her wounds to see him plunge into its internal depths. It was because she had been there, she managed to save him when the explosion shot out his battered Gundam, and brought him to J whom had radioed out and asked her to. Heero had dryly noted out that it was more likely Dorothy had wanted to see the battle- or see him die, and that was why she followed him out.  
eNo. I don ft want to see anyone die anymore, f was her softly, spoken comment. Her grey eyes widening after the remark indicated the blonde had not planned on voicing her true thoughts.  
That one moment, was one of the rare few moments Heero had ever seen Dorothy with her mask down. She had looked as lost, and as alone as he felt in the wake of war. The next time Heero saw Dorothy with her mask down was the same night, when they tried out together for the first time, a method where they could both retreat and block out the memories of death for a while, and pretend to be at peace after the war fs end. She had comforted him, and he had comforted her. But he could no longer turn to her small frame and cradle his head against her neck like he had allowed himself to do in the those times.  
Dorothy was no longer with him.  
She had died in the last struggle for power. In an ironic twist of fate, she had died by saving both the insurgent leader- Mariemaia, who seemed to be a mere child but had a precocious mind, and the young peace advocate Relena Peacecraft, who had been no older than the child, yet played a central role in the first war, from treachery within the rebel army fs leadership ranks. But then again, Dorothy was the same age as Relena Peacecraft, and she too, had played a main role in how the world was shaped. And her death too, had protected peace. The Peacecraft girl had her name already carved and gilded with gold in the books, but yet again, as in the previous conflict, Heero knew that Dorothy fs name would not make the publicised history records as a heroine. Her family name, Catalonia, had been cast as the villains whom had supported the greed of the war, even as Dorothy herself fought hard for peace. Dorothy was damned to belong in the darkness, in the abyss that the sprung her and where she existed in life. But he would remember her.  
Even if he was alone in it.  
He stood before the entrance to the Preventer building and took in the huge, towering complex. His feet had finally carried him to the place which he had been heading to. Now he had to infiltrate the organisation, and observe the activities of the Gundam pilots. If they proved to be of danger to the peace, he would eliminate them himself.  
Mission accepted.  
He could almost hear Dorothy laugh out loud. She always loved intrigue.  
A ghost of a smile touched his lips, then faded away as the memory of Dorothy fs laugh died away.  
The cold Autumn wind coming down from the streets seemed abruptly colder. Heero straightened himself up, and entered Preventer territory.

TBC. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimers apply, 1x2.

Heero made his way down the buzzing hallways of the upper levels. It had been easy enough to give his documents in and get the ID pass that allowed him to enter. He had handed in materials, some were completely forged and some altered from real documents, but were all complete and utter lies. As expected, there was no problems with the materials passing inspection. Dr. J was perfect in his work, and his work covered a wide spanse of things. His generation had made the system of checks, and he, being the most prime scientist responsible for most of the security advances now commonly used across space, could just as easily twart the system, or so Dr.J had stated in his harsh, cracked voice. Heero had been more than a little tense to try it out with the Preventers, but it appeared the security levels were no higher than Romafellar in the wars. Quality security, but not good enough to stop a practiced rebel who had access to certain resources no money could buy.  
'Is that the guy'  
'Yep. That's the new recruit. I don't know whether I should feel sorry for the kid, or envious'  
'Yeah, being selected to train on the job with those Gundam pilots- the kid's either lucky as hell, or just simply damned to hell'  
'He looks like he can handle himself though'  
'I dunno c The kid looks a bit scrawny. I doubt whether he could snap a twig, let alone handle those cases that the Gundam group takes on'  
'He walks like he has the confidence to do so though'  
'Yah yah, youth, you know. Poor fool doesn't know what he's getting himself into. You heard about those rumours, right'  
'What rumours'  
'Well I heard from c'  
The door behind him swung shut on the voices as he entered the wing where he was to work. A long, white hallway stretched out before him. At the end of it, was a simple glass door glazed over so only the faintest of shadows came though. A single visible camera stared down at him from above the doorway. It didn't look like much security, after the many checkpoints he had passed that needed him to swipe his card or give some sort of biometric information to a device- or at four points, several devices at the same time. The bland look of the hallway, however, signalled to Heero that he was about to go through one of the highest secured checkpoints. Everything about him was being scanned, from the mass of his body- read by the pressure his footsteps exerted on the floor, to his body heat and heartbeat signals. He was basically walking down naked through the hallway. That didn't disturb him though. The layout had been standard at the institutions he grew up in. Going about unarmed, in enemy territory, did not frighten him.  
His own body was his weapon.  
But he wasn't fool enough to believe that was all he needed. Thanks to the materials Dr.J made for him, he would be able to select and bring his choice of weapons on his mission. Until he had at least a gun on him, Heero was cautious. There was still room for so much to go wrong.  
Heero reached the end of the hallway. He stopped outside the door and waited.  
'State your name,' ordered a cool, electronic voice.  
'Heero Yuy'  
'Recognised. You may pass'  
The door swung open.

TBC.

DSA 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimers apply.  
1x2 AU, Preventerness By DSA

He didn't know what he was expecting. Everything, and nothing, he supposed, but even so, the presence of four boys exactly the same age- or roughly so abouts, judging by the height of one of them, did not exactly fitted in with his expectations.  
That could have explained why their voices sounded so young. Four pairs of eyes swivelled around to him from different areas of the room. Now those were not so young. Hm. Experience and the knowledge of war were deeply etched in their expression. Too much for the ordinary soldier- so it looked he had found them. The Gundam pilots.  
'Welcome,' came a soft, well accented voice. Quatre Raberba Winner. He could easily recognise the blond as the boy was usually pictured somewhere in most news media. He was one of the most famous faces in space. But his high soprano gave Heero information that no media ever had on the youth. He was pilot 04.  
'Heero Yuy, correct'  
He nodded right in affirmative.  
'Hm, you're smaller than I thought you'd be,' came a haughty voice. 'And are all new recruits this young? What are the Preventers doing- plucking babies from cradles?' A severe looking boy leant forward in his chair, and placed his arm onto the large round table he sat before. He was the only one sitting at the main table. All the other four were scattered in different locations- standing or sitting at the edges of the room.  
Pilot 05, aka Wufei Chang. He was a black hair Asian- a surprising still full blood Chinese. It was a dwindling rarely nowadays, since it had been the Chinese who first navigated and fully genetic manipulation. Being one of the rare purely Chinese lines now explained to Heero why 05 had always struck him as rather stiff and formal-as well as too moral in the nature of his fighting. Chang clearly derived from the old warrior traditional types. Those families, unlike the mainstream, held onto the view that ancient blood was superior to mixed blood. The fact that such families held onto wealth and power, despite the strong upheavals throughout history, enforced their view.  
'He's the same height as you,' pointed out a polite voice from a standing figure. 'And his file says he is the same age too. Since you picked him, I believe you should already know that.' The tall speaker in the far corner then went quiet, his point made in the most sharp, but civilized way.  
03. Factor unknown. He lifted his eyes from the Asian boy who now looked uncomfortable sitting in his seat, to study the blank face of the speaker and still blanker eyes. Odd. Vivid green eyes such as his should have expression. It was unnatural without. Factor still unknown, he concluded. The youth was unreadable, and had an outward coolness to him that belied the reckless method he fought in war. Perhaps all the times when the third Gundam entered the fray had been more calculated than Heero had first thought? The tall boy in the corner of the room didn't strike him as the thoughtless kind. Perhaps uncaring of his life?  
'Yep, he's as tiny as you, Chang-Wham-Bang-Bang.  
Pilot... 02. To his shock, he recognised the boy. He was the carefree figure he had noticed in street. Up close, he noticed the sparkling blue eyes had a touch of violet to their irises. The boy studied him with a cocked head, looking him up and down from his position on top of a small filing cabinet. 'Black hair and brown eyes? How boring- maybe he's just as serious as you. Despite their fascination with remaining a genetically pure breed, I thought all Japanese dyed the hair- I mean, they like having brown or blond hair, even if they don't go out and get it genetically done like you Chinese people do'  
Pilot 02 was talking about him. He had dyed his hair black and wore brown contacts that falsified his biometrics. His true biometrics had to be kept hidden from the Preventer's security records. Even his finger tips had an unseen layer of false skin to them, the ridges on them imprinting on every scanner a lie. He had not taken in account fashion when he made his choice of colours. But considering neither blond or red were colours that faded in the background, and his natural colour was brown, black was the only choice.  
'Oh fuck! That hurts Wufei- you don't have to fucking cut me with that sword of yours every friggin' time for Christ's sake. Just wave it around or something you psycho- not chuck these things at me'  
'It's not a sword- it's a dagger I flung at you. You should have been quicker to avoid it. You're getting slow'  
'Fuck you, Chang'  
'Here, have a bandage'  
'Trowa c erm, when did you start carrying these around? I thought only Quatre did'  
'Une has been complaining about the blood trails you've been leaving behind. It's now policy for everyone in our group to have at least one roll'  
'...Is he joking, Quatre?' Duo asked as he took the offered bandage from the tall youth with a cautious look at Trowa's straight face.  
'Yes, he is. Now Duo, could you please stop provoking Wufei. Remember, you did promise to be good. The budget for fixing the resulting damages to the office is nearing its limit, you know.' 'It's not my fault'  
'It is both your fault. Now, please just stop it,' Quatre ordered.  
The blond walked over to Heero and clasped his hands around Heero's hands. 'Please excuse our ill behaviour. Everyone was looking forward to your arrival, and we are all a little excited to have you on'  
'Yeah, finally Une let's us have a recruit. Yay, yay,' Duo said unenthusiastically. 'You'd think she'd be smarter and keep them away from us so we don't give the organisation a bad name or something'  
'Duo, please'  
The long hair boy shut up at Quatre's warning voice.  
'Allow me to properly introduce to you the team. As you no doubt more than aware of, we are the Gundam pilots in the war. I am Quatre Raberba Winner. You may know me better by my assigned number, 04. I am the elected leader of this group, and Wufei Chang, otherwise known as 05, is my second-in-command. But Wufei actually does most of the administrative and daily work, though, to tell you the truth, so he's actually the group's leader. I am not usually here at the office unless there is a crisis and I am called in'  
'I understand. The Winner Enterprise is a rather large corporation'  
'Well, it does keep me rather busy,' Quatre smiled and moved on. 'Trowa's our people expert- intelligence, infiltration'  
'Anything shady is our 03's line of expertise,' came a laugh. 'He's our spy master. The boy's got connections like you wouldn't believe'  
'-and this is the ever so talkative Duo Maxwell is 02, the field operations specialist. He may not seem it at first, but he's actually very intelligent. When he brags, he's actually not lying. Well, most of the time'  
'Hey! I have you know that I don't lie! And what do you mean by not seeming to be intelligent? Are you calling me stupid? Quatre, I thought you were my friend!' Duo sniffed and gave a hurt look at the blond.  
'Enough of the theatrics, Maxwell. You're annoying me'  
'You're too easily annoyed, Wufei. Anyway, you deserve it'  
'Could you please save your antics for later? We don't want to scare off the newcomer. If he resigns because of you, getting another in will be very hard,' Quatre asked.  
Heero nearly blinked in surprise as a sudden serious look fell down on the long hair boy's face which had been grinning like a loon before.  
'Well in all honesty, Quatre, I don't need a backup- despite what Wufei may have told you.' He jerked his head to Heero. 'Not to belittle you or anything kid, but the fact remains that you're a raw recruit who would know jack all about the field, and looking after you is going to be a fucking pain in the ass. I don't care if your files says you're the "best in the class" or that you "graduated with honours" with a flippin' "perfect score which is unmatched"- in the field, things are a hell lot different, and I don't want some raw green kid who's too used to jumping hoops to get to the top like a good little mama's boy all his life to be paired with me. You'd be a fucking pain in the ass- a fucking pain in my ass which I sure as hell don't want,' he jabbed his finger at Heero then at Wufei. 'And Wufei, did it ever occur to you to ask me what I want before you go assigning some kid to be joined hip to hip with me? What the fuck were you thinking? That we'd be happy bum buddies immediately, and that no, I would mind putting my ass up in the air to be fucked over by a rookie on the fucking dangerous missions? We're talking about my life and his life on the line, buddy. I am not into kinky shit like that. Why did the hell did you ask Quatre and Une for a hindrance I don't want'  
'It's not a question of what you want, Maxwell. It's what you need,' Wufei said quietly. 'You've been getting in too deep into missions and taking unnecessary risks. This pairing is for your sake. Unfortunately, there is no experienced agent willing to pair with you- because you made sure of that, didn't you? You've a reputation for being too hard to work with- no, pardon me, "hell to work with" as a partner. That information's gone down to even among the new recruits. And the only person game enough to volunteer for this position despite your reputation was him.' He turned to Heero. 'As you can see, this is the situation. Are you still willing to take on the position?' he questioned.  
Heero shrugged.  
'There is no problem,' he stated blandly.  
Heero, however, did not miss the glittering, angry look that passed Duo's face before the long hair boy turned his face around and ignored him for the rest of the introductory briefing session.  
He was not concerned however. There was no problem, he believed. Because he was going to be watching his back carefully anyhow. 


End file.
